He notices me picking.“You’re not hungry?”
I smile.“Do you have to notice everything?”
“About you?”he blurts, perhaps regretting it.“Sorry, but ...yes?”
“I don’t mind,” I insist, since we’re clearly being honest.
“So?”he presses.“You’re not hungry?”
“I’m starved,” I admit.“But I never eat much on a date.”
He beams.“Me either!Lucky it’s not one!”
My face falls.He notices that, too.“I just mean, Chet, a date is something you do out.On the town.A restaurant.A movie theater.Bowling alley, skating rink, concert, play, whatever.This is more like...”
“A hookup?”I offer, admiring the way my hot dog glistens in the waning sunlight.
He nods almost shyly.“If you want to, I mean, I realize...”He waves his half-eaten burger around the patio.“I was probably a little forward in setting all this up, huh?”
“I don’t mind forward, Grady,” I insist, sensing an opening and rushing in before I can chicken out.“As long as there are a few ...ground rules first.”
“What?”he teases.“Like safe words or whatnot?”
“Wow, youareforward.”I chuckle.“No, I meant like ...expectations.About this.About ...us.”
He wipes a blot of ketchup from his big, full lips, sitting back in his chair as he slides his plate on the cushion next to him.“As in ...there is no us?”
I nod, glad he was the one to say it first.“Not after this week, Grady.No.”
He nods back, reaching for his wine and sipping it quietly.“Are you ...okay with that?”
“Are you?”he asks, not unkindly.
I think for a moment before answering.“I guess we’ll find out, huh, cowboy?”
He sighs.“Is this how they do things out in Hollywood?”
“It’s ...how I do things, period.Ever since Pierre, I mean.”
He frowns.“Baggage much?”
I snort.“Yeah, probably, but ...been there, barely survived that, you know?”
“Like I haven’t?”
“Have you?”I challenge, but not so playfully this time.“I’m serious, I mean, I’m genuinely interested.”
“I have,” he insists.“If you’re asking.”
“I am.I did.”
“What, you mean I should tell you about it?”
I smile.“If you want,” I tease, borrowing some of his cowpoke lingo for the moment.
“I don’t mind.”He sighs.“It was a long time ago, but it still hurts.”
“Who hurt you?”I huff, balling a fist with my free hand and carefully not to spill my wine with the other.“Lemme at him.”
